A Busy Saturday

The first group of kids made it safely to Fort Worth today. They got the cattle washed and settled in. I stayed at home with some of the younger kids and Lydia, who had ranch sorting practice for the Go Texan Competition for Houston Livestock Show next weekend.  We spent the day taking care of animals and fixing things at the ranch.  

The neighbor called and said he had a big Longhorn steer with an 8 foot horn span in his pasture. He said he was mean and dangerous! He said he was tall and probably just jumped right over the fence!  For the life of me, I couldn't figure out which steer fit that description. I had to look at the list on my phone. We figured out it was SH Bold Boy, who is a total sweetheart and is ridden by Joy is parades..  Ten minutes later we had him haltered and Joy walked him back home behind the mule.  Sometimes you can't help but laugh at the preconceived ideas that people have about Texas Longhorns.  

On a really good note, Samuel felt better today than he has felt in months!  He actually walked around at the ranch today. He slept in a bed last night instead of a chair. He isn't feeling great, but it is a huge improvement!  Praise The Lord!!  He is answering our prayers.  Hopefully each day he will grow stronger again and build strength before we go to Baltimore.  Samuel is feeling well enough that he is going to try to teach his Sunday School class tomorrow morning.  

The girls and I are leaving for Fort Worth at 6:00 am.  I'm sure Jacob will be relieved when we get there. I'm pretty sure he has his hands full.  

Out of the Operating Room

Samuel is out of surgery and in recovery now. The doctor came by and spoke to me about some procedures he did to try to make Samuel more comfortable.  They changed the type of tube used for the most painful one, they added some internal sutures to try to prevent it from moving and they flushed the organs before placing the new tubes. We are hopeful that this helps alleviate the pain.  I will be able to see Samuel when he wakes up. If he doesn't develop a high fever and if he can keep food down, they will send us home this evening. We greatly appreciate the prayers!  

Challenges and Blessings

Every day lately seems to bring things that are reminders of the challenges we still face and of the blessings we have as well. When I woke up at 3:00 am to head to Houston for another surgery for Samuel, I could hardly make myself get up and get dressed. Wearing pajamas all day sounded so appealing. Then I thought of Samuel and how he has worn pajama pants for 8 1/2 months now because he doesn't have a choice. It made me realize that being able to get up, to get dressed, and to drive to Houston is a blessing. 

We are here now and Samuel is about to go back for surgery.  It's a new year which means all the insurance deductibles start over again, but God is good and He has carried us this far and will continue to walk with us along this rocky road. 

I will send a post when Samuel is out of surgery and back in his room. Thanks for praying!

We have an appointment!!

Sooooo.......after calling Johns Hopkins Hospital every day for weeks trying to coordinate a date for Samuel to see the surgeons that will be working on putting him back together, we finally have an appointment for the initial consultation to coordinate the first reconstruction surgery. On February 3rd, we will be meeting with the team of surgeons in Baltimore. Samuel is still in a lot of pain and really struggling to cope with it on a daily basis.  We had really hoped to get in sooner, but this is the soonest they can take him. Because the pain is so bad and the appointment date is three weeks away, we are going to have to replace the tubes another time at Memorial Hermann Hospital. He is scheduled for surgery on Wednesday of this week. We are praying this will give him some relief from the pain so he can make it until February 3rd. Please continue to pray for total healing, strength, pain relief and a will to keep fighting. 

It's cold outside!

In south-central Texas, we are not prepared for temperatures in the low 20's and teens. Somehow though, nature's labor and delivery room never closes. Tonight this precious little heifer calf was brought to us because she was born in the cold and her mother had no milk for her. Tomorrow we will be getting one of our mama cows to adopt her, but tonight she will be staying warm in the house. Gabriella, Sophia and Caleb are loving this!  She was in the breezeway, but then followed them into the kitchen.

Still waiting....

Well, the weekend was very hard for Samuel. He slept almost the whole weekend only waking up to eat. His pain has not improved and at times it seems pretty unbearable. On Sunday, while he was sleeping in the chair in the living room, I went into his bedroom and took his Christmas gifts out of the boxes and put them away. They were all untouched because he doesn't feel like doing anything right now. Sarah has been giving Samuel books to read. When he is awake, he sometimes reads for a while. This evening he is up and actually even watching a movie with the little kids. I even saw him smile at some of the funny parts. He has very little energy right now and just wants to sit perfectly still so it doesn't hurt as bad. I called Johns Hopkins Hospital today like Dr. Gearhart told me to do. His nurse told me she was working on coordinating the consultation with the 4-5 surgeons that would be involved in his first big reconstruction surgery.  She said that if I didn't hear back from her by noon tomorrow to call her back. So, once again we are waiting.....  Please pray that tomorrow we will get some answers and that tonight is less painful for Samuel than it has been. Thank you. 

Samuel

Update on Samuel – Today Samuel is feeling better than he was yesterday, but he is still in a lot of pain and pain meds don’t take away the pain, but only lessen it. We had a little bit of good news this morning. I finally got a call back from his doctor in Baltimore. He has been on vacation and now they are having a snow storm and have received five inches of snow, which basically shuts Baltimore down. His nurse and secretary aren’t there to be able to schedule anything, but he explained that we will need to come for a consultation trip first. At that point we will be meeting with four different types of surgeons that will all need to be part of the first major surgery. He said that on Monday they will call and we will work on coming up with a plan to get Samuel up there. He also gave Samuel a prescription of a medication that will help with some of spasms he is having in his abdomen due to all the tubes. That should really help with the pain. When he called today his first words to me were, “I’ve reviewed all of Samuel’s medical records and it is a miracle that this kid is not six foot under.” As I tried to explain his current condition, it was a stark reminder of what all he has been through and how far he has come, praise God! It is amazing how our minds work, I find myself forgetting so much of what happened and I have to assume it is because my mind doesn’t really want to remember so much of this. Then something said will jog my memory and I will remember details that led us to this place. It truly is a miracle that he survived such a horrific accident and then a night in a ditch with such severe injuries on one of the coldest nights we had in 2013. Yet that strange cold night in May and hypothermia was what helped save him. I cried every time I thought of any of this when I woke up this morning, but now I feel much better because I know we are doing everything we can to help him and we are working towards a plan. I can also feel the strength of prayer at work and I thank you for that. Blessings!

Eight Months Later....

I have a prayer request for Samuel tonight. The last few weeks have been very hard on him. We keep thinking the next surgery or procedure will help, but it doesn't. His pain is intolerable at times and he is exhausted and very down. Today was the worst day in months. He remained in bed all day long trying to "sleep through the pain." A couple of weeks ago, before Christmas, we made the decision to take him to Johns Hopkins Hospital for the rest of his care because we feel like he is falling through the cracks at Memorial Hermann now. His trauma team was wonderful, but now he has different doctors and it seems like they just give him pain medicine instead of finding the source of the pain and dealing with the problems. I don't think I can handle another day of watching Samuel hurting or his eyes glassy from the pain meds he needs just to make it through the day. I know we need more help than we are getting here and we both realize that Baltimore is where he needs to be. Before Christmas, we started making arrangements to get him there, but we still don't have a date. Please pray that we get answers tomorrow and that we can head that way soon!  I know it will be so hard to be away from my family here, especially the little ones, but I also know that Samuel needs Dr. Gearhart and I trust him to do what is best for Samuel.  He is not making any progress anymore and he has lost more weight due to the stress of being in so much pain. Please pray for the pain to cease and for things to fall into place so we can get him to Baltimore for at least an evaluation and more testing. Answers from the best doctor in this field would be so welcomed right now.  Today was 8 months since his accident and it feels as if we are only taking steps backwards lately. Please pray that God show His favor on Samuel and heal his body. Pray for strength and will to fight!  We are trusting in Jesus!!!